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The Dayton region will move billions of dollars in goods this holiday season due to its "strategic advantage" of being located alongside major trade corridors in Ohio and the Midwest, a national trade expert said.

“As we see growth across the county in many different industries, the one thing that they have in common is that they all need facilities. They all need places that they all need places for the people to live in,” says Heath MacAlpine, Assistant Director of Montgomery County Job and Family Services Workforce Development.

“I’ve never worked in the construction industry before, but I like the idea,” explains Jearlene McAttee.

Industry experts say because of the recession, many construction workers either retired or moved to other fields.

Now, there is a big hole to fill.

“We have jobs that are less skilled, such as drywall and roofing and brick laying, then we have more technical, more skilled jobs such as mechanical like heating and cooling, plumbing, electrical,” comments Walt Hibner, Executive Director of the Home Builders Association of Dayton.

If you weren’t able to make it to the job fair, you can contact Ohio Means Jobs-Montgomery County at 225-JOBS or go here.

Over 400 job seekers were out in force for the first ever Construction Job Fair hosted by Montgomery County's Workforce Division. 34 companies in the construction industry were on hand at The Dayton Convention Center, Wednesday March 12th to meet with potential candidates.

A few years ago, the recession forced many construction workers into retirement or moved to other industry sectors looking for a new career. “We have jobs that are less skilled, such as drywall and roofing and brick laying, then we have more technical, more skilled jobs such as mechanical like heating and cooling, plumbing, electrical,” comments Walt Hibner, Executive Director of the Home Builders Association of Dayton.

If you were not able to make it to the job fair, you can contact Ohio Means Jobs Montgomery County at 225-JOBS or visit OhioMeansJobs.com/Montgomery.

MIAMI VALLEY -- Our national youth unemployment rate is now over 20 percent. Many of those young people have never held jobs and don't have job-seeking skills. One employer told us that a student he met at a local high school said she just expected to have kids of her own and live on welfare.

But a Montgomery County program called Youth Works is aiming to break that cycle. It reimburses businesses who hire young people at minimum wage for the summer. Watch our story and you'll meet a young mother who worked with an insurance agency and now is a licensed agent.

The trouble is that Youth Works has more than 3,000 young applicants ... but not nearly enough jobs. So they're looking for businesses to step up.